Ehtesab Commission poised to arrest accused after overcoming legal hitches

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission is poised to start arresting some of the accused in cases of corruption and misuse of power after overcoming certain legal issues that were hampering its work since it became operational in December 2014.
On April 10, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly unanimously amended the Ehtesab Commission Act, 2014 to enable it to probe any case of corruption 2004 onwards instead of the earlier date of 2014.
Amendments were made in three sections of the act to rectify an unbelievable mistake as cases dating back from 2004 to 2013 could not be probed under the previous law. If it was an oversight, this raises question mark over the competence of the provincial law department.
Following the amendments, the new Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission Act, 2015 has come into force immediately and the act shall be deemed to have taken effect from January 1, 2004.
The Ehtesab Commission, which is being touted as a major reform introduced by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the province, would now be able to investigate any case of corruption and other irregularities committed in the period starting from 2004. This was a major legal impediment for the Ehtesab Commission resulting from the poor performance of the law department.
Another legal hitch was the lack of Ehtesab (accountability) court judges who could hear the corruption cases and give physical custody of the accused to the Ehtesab Commission. Recently, two senior judges, Hayat Ali Shah and Subhan Sher Khan, were appointed to the Ehtesab courts to complete the process.
According to the Ehtesab Commission’s principal staff officer Sardar Ahsan Alam, they have received 165 public complaints so far and the probe into five cases had entered the final stage. He said the commission is likely to start apprehending some of the accused in the coming days.
It was learnt that elected representatives and their relatives and former and serving government officers are among those against whom the investigation is almost complete. Some of them would be taken into custody and produced before the Ehtesab courts so that their physical remand is obtained to interrogate them about their involvement in major cases of corruption and misuse of power.
In at least two cases, the arrests could come as a surprise. In case someone related to the PTI is arrested, the ruling party and the provincial government would get good marks for sparing nobody if found involved in acts of corruption.
Such an arrest appears likely in the first phase. This would vindicate PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s oft-repeated promise to fight corruption in case his party came into power. Chief Minister Pervez Khattak too has been saying that the Ehtesab Commission could also take action against him if he was found involved in corruption.
Lt-Gen (Retd) Hamid Khan, the former corps commander Peshawar who also served as the President of the National Defence University, Islamabad, was appointed as the first director general of the Ehtesab Commission on October 20 last year. The retired general belonging to Charsadda district was offered the job and he accepted it after ensuring that he would be able to work independently and go after the corrupt irrespective of the person’s status.
Some of the cases of corruption in final phase of investigation involve legislators who held important positions in the previous ANP-PPP coalition government that ruled the province from 2008-2013. Some of these suspects are known and widely accused of corruption. However, netting them isn’t going to be easy as no real evidence was left behind by the crafty operators in these white collar crimes.